So you want to make a video?

[Insane Troll Logic]

Seeing as though a few of us have been bitten by the video making bug, I thought I'd share a few techniques and thoughts on the subject. Apologies if I cover ground that's obvious or already well understood

Everyone has their own way of making a viddy - that's one of the great things about it - individual creativity and originality. Here's how I like to go about it:

• Concept
  
  The glue that holds the video together. A stong, cohesive concept where the clips (and/or music) share a theme can make a video come to life. Maybe all of the clips are from a single episode of a TV show, arranged in order to tell the story. Maybe a character arc is explored through the clip arrangement, or an emotional theme. Maybe all at once. There's so much scope!
  
  
• Arrangement
  
  I try to make the visuals fit with the audio. This involves careful clip selection where the mood of the clip fits the mood of the audio track. Mirroring the lyrical content of the audio with the clip is always a nice touch, as is literally synching the clips to the audio for a snappy, tight arrangement.
  
  
• Editing tricks
  
  Careful use of the built-in filters and effects in Windows Movie Maker can add an extra dimension to the video. Crossfades, fading a clip in or out using a black or white fade, use of greyscale on a clip, speeding up or slowing down a clip, using still images.....all of these effects look great if used well, and can enhace the emotional impact of a scene.
  
  
• Reversing a clip
  
  I used this technique in my Firefly and Doctor Who videos - and here's how I did it:
  
  Firstly, you need to download VirtualDubMod - it's an amalgam of a few different VirtualDub releases, utilising the features of all of them in one package.
  
  Next, download this file - it's a tiny script that's used in VirtualDubMod to reverse a clip. Ensure that the reversal script is in the same folder as the clip you'll be working on.
  
  Load the video clip you want to reverse into VirtualDubMod (I assume you've already saved out a small clip ready for use) , and ensure that it has no audio track, If you haven't already removed the audio track, do so by going to STREAMS>STREAM LIST, then click on DISABLE and finally OK.
  
  Go to the VIDEO menu, and select FULL PROCESSING MODE. Do not select a compression codec, as uncompressed AVI's are needed for the reversing process.
  
  Save the clip using the filename mymovie (this filename is also in the reversal script, so they need to be the same).
  
  Close the file, and load the reversal script as you would a video file. All you need to do now is ensure that full processing mode with no compression is selected, and save the file - call it whatever name you wish.
  
  Once you've done that, close the file and load the clip you've just reversed. Stay in full processing mode, but this time select a compression codec - DiVX is a good one to choose. Save the file with an appropriate filename.
  
  There you have it - a time-reversed clip, ready to be used in Movie Maker!
  

So that's some of the ideas and techniques I use - more to follow when I can think of them! lol